The present invention relates to magnetic hard disk drives. More specifically, the invention relates to a system for preventing disk surface particulate contamination and for preventing impact-related head/slider damage.
In the art today, different methods are utilized to improve recording density of hard disk drives. FIG. 1 provides an illustration of a typical drive arm configured to read from and write to a magnetic hard disk. Typically, a voice-coil motor (VCM) 102 is used for controlling the motion, across a magnetic hard disk 106, of an arm 104 of a hard drive. Because of the inherent tolerance (dynamic play) that exists in the placement of a recording head 108 by a VCM 102 alone, micro-actuators 110 are now being utilized to ‘fine-tune’ head 108 placement, as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,606. A VCM 102 is utilized for course adjustment and the micro-actuator 110 then corrects the placement on a much smaller scale to compensate for the tolerance of the VCM 102 (with the arm 104). This enables a smaller recordable track width, increasing the ‘tracks per inch’ (TPI) value of the hard drive (to provide an increased drive density).
FIG. 2 provides an illustration of a micro-actuator as used in the art. Typically, a slider 202 (containing a read/write magnetic head; not shown) is utilized for maintaining a prescribed flying height above the disk surface 106 (see FIG. 1). Micro-actuators may have flexible beams 204 connecting a support device 206 to a slider containment unit (such as a frame) 208 enabling slider 202 motion independent of the drive arm 104 (see FIG. 1). An electromagnetic assembly or an electromagnetic/ferromagnetic assembly (not shown) may be utilized to provide minute adjustments in orientation/location of the slider/head 202 with respect to the arm 104 (see FIG. 1).
As the scale of computer storage devices such as hard disk drives reduces, the importance of media surface contaminant removal increases. Particulate accumulation can adversely affect a hard drive's performance. It can cause problems such as disk surface abrasion, leading to data transfer (i.e., read/write) errors. Another problem facing storage devices such as hard disk drives is damage caused by impact between the head (slider) and disk. Such impact can cause damage to the head/slider, the disk, or both, which can also affect hard drive performance.
It is therefore desirable to have a system for preventing media surface contaminant accumulation and for preventing impact-related head/slider damage, as well as having additional benefits.